[theforum] back to basics

Erika ekm at seastorm.com
Mon Nov 17 15:13:38 CST 2008


I maintain that we are a generalist group, with an emphasis on 
professional.  I may be "professional" but still not know a lot of 
stuff. I am am amateur in many aspects of the field.  I even can't do 
certain things in my own field automatically (I know what IE hacks to 
use, but I'm  bad at using them, for example...).  So I appreciate the 
generalist nature of the site.

Every group will attract amateurs and that's fine too. IT HAPPENS. 
We've never turned those folks away, and that is part of what the web, 
and evolt, is about IMO.  Allowing people to forge their own path.  If 
they stick around, soon they may be helping others.

So maybe one of our goals is to be "sticky."  IMO what makes people 
stick is the personality/community of the site as much as anything.

Another thing we used to have, was we used to be irreverent.  We had 
Marelene, a "burner," aardvark... just plain wacky... Cody... Cody was a 
big thinker and a natural writer... .jeff a character... Isaac... 
way-left political junky... madhu... doesn't play elephant polo... (ok 
he's still on thechat)... In general, these folks are gone now.  Some 
others are still here, some arrived later. but honestly, there are only 
a few now who stand out to me in terms of having a strong online 
personality. I think this is due to a lack of recent articles being 
written by admins, and admins just talking business, instead of throwing 
their entire personality into evolt.  I miss that, personally.  Maybe in 
the UK it's different, maybe all the personality/socialising happens 
offlist now.  Anyway... I will venture that in the past, we have been 
about personalities, and less so now.  I sense more distance and 
"professionalism" IMO with a certain loss.

I will disagree that we are going in circles.  I personally have been 
able to make use of EVERYTHING that's been said here, in my thinking 
about the community and brand.  There are some things that keep coming 
up though, which are those questions about intended audience, purpose goals.

I think we also have to ask about maintenance issues, too.  If something 
is not going to be maintained, we should not have it.  This goes for 
every aspect of the site.  IMO.

this has been a brain dump.


Erika



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